On camera: Ex-adviser to Obama’s Islamophobic rant, calls vendor ‘terrorist’

An ex-adviser to former US President Barack Obama was caught on camera making Islamophobic remarks and harassing a New York City food vendor, as seen in videos that emerged online Tuesday.

The videos, posted on X (formerly Twitter), depict former US government official Stuart Seldowitz making inflammatory remarks about the Prophet and the Quran. He can also be heard claiming that the killing of 4,000 Palestinian children in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas “wasn’t enough.”

In the clip, Seldowitz calls the vendor a “terrorist” and accuses him of supporting Hamas. He references his “friends in immigration” and mentions the “Mukhabarat,” seemingly alluding to an Egyptian intelligence agency.

“The Mukhabarat in Egypt will get your parents. Does your father like his fingernails? They’ll take them out one by one,” he says, while the vendor repeatedly asks him to leave, stating he doesn’t speak English.

Seldowitz retorts, “Tell me why I should go? I’m standing here. I’m an American. It’s a free country. It’s not like Egypt,” and criticizes the vendor for not speaking English and accuses him of working in the US without a permit or visa.

Previously, Seldowitz held significant roles in the US government, including acting director for the National Security Council South Asia Directorate during the Obama administration and deputy director/senior political officer in the State Department’s Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs from 1999 to 2003. As of November 2022, he was appointed as foreign affairs chair at Gotham Government Relations.

Following the incident, Gotham Government Relations took to Twitter to announce the termination of their relationship with Seldowitz.

“Gotham Government Relations has ended all affiliation with Stuart Seldowitz, an individual who hasn’t contributed to our work in years. The video of his actions is vile, racist, and beneath the dignity of the standards we practice at our firm,” the firm stated in a tweet, removing his page from their website.

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department told VICE News that they are aware of the incident and are currently monitoring the situation.